Thursday, November 27, 2014

Two trips to the new house, a nap and..... NO TURKEY! So was my Thanksgiving. We didn't cook here because all the pots and pans are at the new house. So my owner went to have dinner with her friend's family and I just slept. (What's new?)

Here I am waiting for Thanksgiving dinner.Don't I look like I am starving?

But my Thanksgiving dinner finally came... at the regular time. I'm not complaining because I have Thanksgiving dinner every day. My doctor said to eat plain pumpkin mixed in with my kibble. AND I JUST LOVE IT!

Here's my pumpkin and kibble concoction

I wait for it eagerly and enjoy the sweetness of the pumpkin. It is so good it almost makes me forget that I didn't have any turkey!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

This new house stuff is getting really tedious. Basically I get to visit my new home daily, run like the wind in the yard, scare squirrels and stay out of the painter's way. But aside from that, I don't get to do much.

But all that changed today. Today I played in the yard, ran like the wind, and got pretty tired but there was no place in the new house to sleep. So I forced myself to stay awake.

Then my owner asked if I wanted to go to Home Depot. Of course I said yes because I couldn't take a nap, anyway. Home Depot is where we go to buy stuff for the new house, to get treats and, of course, to get some attention.

I know exactly where to go when I get to Home Depot. I trot towards the back of the store, stopping only for compliments and pats on my head. Today I smelled really good because I had a bath. I looked really cool in my leather dress collar too! I was a four pawed people magnet! It was all fun and games until we got to Sue's desk. She's the one who helps us with blinds and carpeting and stuff like that. But she is all business.

I don't really like that I have to stand still while she works on our orders. And today, my patience was really tested. My owner decided, without conferring with me, to do a photo shoot. I was tired and didn't want to have my picture taken. So I turned my rear to the camera! That fixed her!

Here's Sue trying to get me interested in the photo shoot.
NO DEAL!

So, she finally quit trying. Just when I was getting really tired, two things happened. My Home Depot friend with the pink watch spied me. He is my favorite because he really loves dogs. He petted me and told me about his friend who had a blue tick hound.

Here's my friend who owns the pink watch.
He's very nice to me but I was starting to worry about the jets overhead making so much noise.

OK, the second thing was really scary! I know what airplanes are and what they look like. They roar and I look up to see them. I'm not afraid of them. But something really weird happened at Home Depot. I heard fighter jets. I looked up but didn't see anything. I just saw the high ceiling. Then I go scared. Was it a tornado? Was it fireworks? I couldn't see anything. It was just noisy. AND VERY SCARY.

Fortunately it was time to leave, any way. I was ready to get the heck out of there! I was tired, stressed and starting to get hungry. As much as I like the people there, I was ready to head home for a nap on my bed. In fact, I fell asleep in the car and didn't realize we were headed for the new house, not the house where my comfy bed was.

When we got there Mike, the painter, was out in front loading his car. What? Mike never leaves. He's always there! I slept.in the car while my owner said good bye to Mike. I WAS TOO TIRED TO SAY GOODBYE TOO.

Then she came to get me. We went inside. The new house looked new for the very first time. No painting gear. No tools. And no Christmas music. I looked at my owner who wanted to get some work done. I pleaded with my eyes... Please let me take a nap!

Here I am with the new designer bed. I still have my old one.

So she went in the garage and brought out a brand new round dog bed. NEW! She brought it into my new room. As soon as I saw it, I jumped on it and curled up and took a nap. My first nap in the new house!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Here's where I spent most of the day yesterday. You can see themarks on the carpet from where things used to be before we started moving.

Hi it's me Cinnamon. I don't have much to write about because I'M NOT DOING MUCH! I'm being neglected for three days in a row.

Why? My owner is a vendor at a huge holiday gift fair and she works from 10 am to 6pm for THREE DAYS!

Now last year I got to go to the Doggie Country Club while she was doing this. I was pampered and got to play with the dogs every day. But this year she made a business decision that the daily fee there was TOO EXPENSIVE! Imagine, considering my fun as a business decision. I am aghast!

So she isn't making enough money to cover my boarding fees. I guess I should be happy I GET FED!

So here I am all day at home with not much to do. Lots of items have been moved from this house to the new one so my room is kinda empty. I do have this computer and my bed, thank goodness. And I can go outside.

But yesterday it rained on and off all day. So what did I do? I slept. I spent most of the day in bed. No cat chasing, no squirrel chasing... NO FUN!

So hopefully today will be a bit better. I'll be alone again but maybe something exciting will happen like the cat will come into my yard.

This is Day #2 of the NEGLECTATHON! Will I survive? I sure hope so because I look forward to running like the wind in my new backyard. I've been promised that for Monday. Monday seems a long, long way off.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Everyone knows by now that we are moving. It's a slow process. I don't like much of it but I put up with it.

But today, something happened that really upset me. She took down the hummingbird feeder! She put it in the sink and cleaned it out and DID NOT REPLACE IT. What does this mean for my friend Colibri? Will she starve? Or will she find us at our new home?

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

After being pretty disappointed last night, we went to see the new house again in daylight. I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

MY YARD IS REALLY BIG! As soon as I got outside, I started to run. I ran down one side of the yard and back on the other. I hopped on the decks. I sniffed for squirrels. I rolled in "whatever" and most of all I had a great time.

Here I am running and leaping off one of the decks

I was having such a great time on my new lawn (filled with fall leaves) that we decided to play ball. I had my favorite squeaky ball there and I ran with it... like the wind!

Here I am all wound up with my ball.

Wind? Oh yes, today was an extremely windy day. I am sure it set some sort of records. The trees were all moving and lots of branches came down. When branches weren't coming down, I got deluged with branches and evergreen needles. It was kind of exciting.

Here I am rolling around having so much fun!

I played ball like I have never played ball before. I ran and ran and ran! I was loving my yard. And after that, I was ready for brunch.

Today I ate brunch outside on the deck. It was sunny for awhile so I thought it would be fun.

Here I am eating brunch ouside.

Later on it got rather chilly. The cold weather was moving in. So I asked to come inside and I found a nice warm sunbeam to sit in. If we had nice carpeting, I would have laid down. But all we had was the laminate flooring.

Found a sunbeam. Yep, I did!

I got so much exercise that, when I returned to my old home, I fell asleep on my turquoise bench. Then, after dinner, I went upstairs without even getting the zoomies. I was ready for bed!

Well, I finally believe I have a new house, although I'm still sleeping in the old one. So it's a bit confusing. Let me tell you what I know and.... I HAVE PICTURES!

So last evening, about sunset time, we loaded some things in the car. As an afterthought, I was loaded in too. I had to fit with the plants in the back seat. And, I had to play limbo with a rake handle... but that's ok. It was a short ride.

Here I am playing limbo with the rake handle while we get gas.

We stopped at Freddie's for gasoline. I thought, since gas prices were so low, we should go on a big road trip. But nooooo, we were going to see the new house!

We pulled up in front on the real estate office and I waited and waited. I finally laid down. All of a sudden the door opened and it was my owner... with the keys!

By the time we got to the house, it was dark. We opened the garage with the garage door opener. It was empty! I got out and sniffed around. Then, I got to go inside the house. I trotted from room to room checking things out. I found "my room." It was smaller than I had hoped and had 1980's carpet in it. The window was too high for me to look out and see anything. So I was disappointed. It was cold in the house. I yearned for my big house with the wall to wall carpeting and furnace.

Here's my new room. The carpet needs updating and the walls need a paint job.Other than that, it will have to do.

I've never had a fireplace like this before.Is this where Santa Claus comes with the presents?

Then we went to the sliding glass door. I was kind of excited. But didn't expect much. It was dark so I couldn't see but, you know me, I sure can sniff! So out I went... on to a huge deck! And then I took off like a flash. I smelled squirrels and there was grass to romp around on. I ran lickety split down the long grass toward the bushes. I was in hunting mode and thought the squirrels were hiding in there.

Here I am checking out the yard. That squirrel must be somewhere!

It was fun. I COULD ACTUALLY RUN IN MY YARD! I checked out all the bushes, poked around behind the shed and finally gave up. I LIKE MY NEW HOME. I HAVE A REAL YARD!

Here I am checking the bushes in one of the corners. No squirrel.

So I'll ignore the small rooms, and the laminate flooring that I might slide on. I'll ignore that there is a bath tub there and I'll ignore that the window in my room is too high. I think I'll like it. But I want to see it in the daylight to be sure.

Today we're going to rake leaves. I'll help by running through them and compacting them.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Hi Guys. It's me, Cinnamon. Since I was born in Santa Fe, NM, I am quite an art aficionado. I used to hang out on Canyon Road before I was adopted and then later on in life, I got to walk with my owner up and down the art-filled road.

So, since my owner has been so BUSY lately, I haven't gotten out much. I was getting restless. So I begged her to take me on the Clark County Open Studio Tour in Vancouver, WA. It was a good time to be out and about. It was kind of misty, so I didn't mind skipping the dog park. I just lazed in the car when we visited the studios, looked around and thought my own thoughts about decorating my new room!

So when we drove down a beautiful street full of fall colors, I paid attention. I thought I might peek in the studio windows and find some art.

The fall leaves were beautiful. You could follow the art trail by looking for these blue signs.

Our first stop was Rebecca Seymour's studio and home. It was bright and airy and there were a couple of dogs in the studio who invited me in. I didn't even get out of the car. And for doing that, the dogs got put back in the house. Drat!

I rather liked this tree painting. Notice the dog bed in the window. Lucky dog!

I could see some of the art and thought the tree painting might be a great piece for my new room. What do you think?

So after that, my owner walked over to Anne John's studio. This was also a beautiful light-filled space with views of the trees and garden. I stayed in the car but noticed a dog looking down at us. I think the dog was sad that it was Open Studio time and she had to stay locked in an upstairs bedroom.

Poor, sad dog!

Anyway, Anne does a lot of paintings with animals in them. I liked this one because I LOVE TO SCARE CROWS. I had the crows in New Mexico so afraid of me they wouldn't fly over the adobe wall because I would chase them. Once I even barked at the crows up in the trees on my street. Crows are for chasing. Don't you think I should get this painting for my room?

I love scaring crows. This piece reminds me of that.

So after all the art, I got to get out of the car and walk up the street. I didn't sniff around much but I sure enjoyed all the fall foliage. I am glad I got to go somewhere FINALLY!

Here I am taking a little stroll. I think the trees were art!

So that was my day on the Open Studio Art Tour. I had fun, even though I didn't get out and run or sniff much. Just being somewhere new makes me happy!

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Something happened today. While we were at the dog park and I was sniffing around, things moved in the world of real estate. All I heard was that our documents were being sent to the title company. Well, that doesn't mean a whole lot to me, Cinnamon.

So I asked. ARE WE GETTING A NEW HOUSE? The answer was YES! Now the details are not, and have not, been forthcoming, so I'll share with you what I know and what is important to me.

This house has a regular yard and TWO DECKS to sleep on. It has grass like the Country Cousins yard. You know, that's where I hunt for frogs. The little ones jump around in the grass after a rain.

I don't know where my bed will go. I don't know where my crate will go. But I'll bet I don't get my own room. Such is downsizing!

So here's the front:

See, it has a "portal" just like in New Mexico and grass in front.

And here is the side deck:

This is where I plan to lounge when it is sunny out. I'll need some shade. The other deck has lots of sun.

And here is the back yard:

I guess my owner will be mowing the grass
because I can't eat all this! Also note that there is an anti-squirrel
device on the bird feeder. You know what that means!

Here's the shed where we can keep my outdoor toys!

So that's all I know. I will be glad to romp around on that grass and chase a ball in the yard. I can't do that here. I just chase squirrels and cats out of the yard. That's all the fun I get!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

It is now 8:15 a.m. and the clocks were just turned back an hour. Lately, I've been having trouble getting up in the morning. I just can't get motivated. It's dark outside and it's rainy today. Why get up?

I go to bed early too. Why stay up? My owner is always out going to things like Dia de los Muertos parties and to dinner with her good friend Walking Wendy. Sure, I get a walk during the day, but lately those have been pretty short. So why get up?

There's information out there on how the shortage of daylight hours affects us dogs. Here's an excerpt from an article written by a psychologist. "Do dogs suffer from SAD? Some data comes from a survey conducted by a
leading veterinary charity in the UK. PDSA (The People's Dispensary for
Sick Animals) found that approximately 40% of dog owners saw a
considerable downturn in their pet's moods during the winter months. In
addition half of the dog owners felt that their dogs slept longer, with
around two in five reporting their pets to be less active overall.
According to the survey, the symptoms are not specific to dogs, since
one in three cat owners also claim that their pet seemed "sadder" and
less playful during the wintertime. For both dog and cat owners one in
four of those surveyed reported that their pet's appetites increased in
the winter." You've got to read the whole article!

So what can be done about SAD in dogs? Well, about the same that is done for people. Brighten the lights, exercise and don't over-eat. That's pretty simplistic but, aside from a trip to Arizona, this might be useful in helping dogs like me. Here's more information on that.

All this is very good advice but I don't like the part where they suggest that I cut back on my eating. UNFAIR!